The primary form of international passenger activity is air transportation. Details of this activity are shown in the following section.

International scheduled air services

During 2001 there were 50 international scheduled airlines operating services to and from Australia. Eight of these were dedicated freight only operators (airlines operating only via code share arrangements have been excluded). This compares to 54 international scheduled airlines and 8 dedicated freight only operators in 2000.

Also during 2001, Air Canada (which took over Canadian Airlines International’s operations), and Lufthansa German Airlines (which began freight services in its own right) commenced services to and from Australia.

International non-scheduled services - Passenger charter policies in Australia encourage inbound tourism by non-scheduled services, particularly over routes not served by the scheduled carriers. In 2001, the majority of these flights originated from Canada, the United Kingdom and Japan. There were also significant charter operations to and from East Timor in 2000.

International traffic - Passenger traffic to and from Australia combined grew by 1.8% in 2001, significantly less than the 10.0% growth recorded in 2000 (table 23.20). The number of passengers coming to Australia in 2001 increased by 2.2% while departures increased by 1.4%. Despite the collapse of Ansett during 2001, the Australian airlines' share of traffic to Australia fell only marginally from 37.3% in 2000 to 36.9% in 2001, while their share of outgoing traffic remained at 37.2%.

23.20 SCHEDULED INTERNATIONAL AIRLINE TRAFFIC TO AND FROM AUSTRALIA(a)

1999

2000

2001

Type of traffic

'000 passengers

'000 passengers

'000 passengers

TRAFFIC TO AUSTRALIA

Qantas Airways Limited

2,647

2,805

2,910

Ansett Australia

260

274

202

Other airlines

4,636

5,184

5,330

All airlines

7,542

8,263

8,442

TRAFFIC FROM AUSTRALIA

Qantas Airways Limited

2,622

2,793

2,908

Ansett Australia

258

265

195

Other airlines

4,564

5,164

5,238

All airlines

7,444

8,222

8,341

(a) Includes Norfolk Island.

Source: Department of Transport and Regional Services.

Table 23.21 shows the number of international passengers arriving at and departing from each of Australia's international airports. Sydney's share of total international passenger traffic was 49.0% in 2001 (down 1.0% from 2000), followed by Melbourne with 19.7% (down 1.2% from 2000), and Brisbane with a 15.1% share (down 0.2% from 2000). Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth all recorded growth from the previous year, with passenger traffic increasing through Melbourne by 8.8%, through Brisbane by 3.2% and through Perth by 0.4%. During 2001, Coolangatta recorded the greatest increase in passenger traffic with growth of 47.8%, followed by Norfolk Island with 16.3%.

23.21 PASSENGER TRAFFIC THROUGH AUSTRALIAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORTS

1998

1999

2000(a)

2001

Airport

'000 passengers

'000 passengers

'000 passengers

'000 passengers

Sydney

6,934

7,388

8,237

8,224

Melbourne

2,489

2,655

3,044

3,312

Brisbane

2,251

2,376

2,461

2,540

Perth

1,434

1,475

1,581

1,587

Cairns

688

661

680

665

Adelaide

223

241

270

242

Darwin

178

156

169

152

Coolangatta

15

17

28

42

Norfolk Island

16

15

14

16

Broome(b)

-

-

3

2

Newcastle(c)

-

-

-

1

Port Hedland(d)

4

3

-

-

Christmas Island(e)

3

-

-

-

Hobart(f)

3

-

-

-

Total

14,237

14,987

16,488

16,783

(a) Contains revised data for Sydney and Melbourne.(b) International operations recommenced in April 2000 and ceased in August 2001.(c) International operations commenced December 2001.(d) International operations ceased in January 2000.(e) International operations commenced in November 1993, ceased in February 1997, recommenced in October 1997 and ceased again in April 1998.(f) International operations ceased in April 1998.